ace, and mortal measure, receive the power of it. There are no other
rulers than they: other rule than theirs is but _mis_rule; they who
govern verily "Dei gratia" are all princes, yes, or princesses, of
peace. There is not a war in the world, no, nor an injustice, but you
women are answerable for it; not in that you have provoked, but in that
you have not hindered. Men, by their nature, are prone to fight; they
will fight for any cause, or for none. It is for you to choose their
cause for them, and to forbid them when there is no cause. There is no
suffering, no injustice, no misery in the earth, but the guilt of it
lies with you. Men can bear the sight of it, but you should not be
able to bear it. Men may tread it down without sympathy in their own
struggle; but men are feeble in sympathy, and contracted in hope; it is
you only who can feel the depths of pain; and conceive the way of its
healing. Instead of trying to do this, you turn away from it; you shut
yourselves within your park walls and garden gates; and you are content
to know that there is beyond them a whole world in wilderness--a world
of secrets which you dare not penetrate; and of suffering which you
dare not conceive.

92. I tell you that this is to me quite the most amazing among the
phenomena of humanity. I am surprised at no depths to which, when once
warped from its honor, that humanity can be degraded. I do not wonder
at the miser's death, with his hands, as they relax, dropping gold. I
do not wonder at the sensualist's life, with the shroud wrapped about
his feet. I do not wonder at the single-handed murder of a single
victim, done by the assassin in the darkness of the railway, or
reed-shadow of the marsh. I do not even wonder at the myriad-handed
murder of multitudes, done boastfully in the daylight, by the frenzy of
nations, and the immeasurable, unimaginable guilt, heaped up from hell
to heaven, of their priests and kings. But this is wonderful to
me--oh, how wonderful!--to see the tender and delicate woman among you,
with her child at her breast, and a power, if she would wield it, over
it, and over its father, purer than the air of heaven, and stronger
than the seas of earth--nay a magnitude of blessing which her husband
would not part with for all that earth itself, though it were made of
one entire and perfect chrysolite:--to see her abdicate this majesty to
play at precedence with her next-door neighbor! This is wonderful--